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God of War III
God of War III is the third installment in the popular God of War series, released on March 16, 2010 for the PlayStation 3. It is the seventh chapter in the series chronologically, after God of War: Ascension, God of War: Chains of Olympus, God of War, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, God of War: Betrayal and God of War II. StoryEdit ---- Spoiler warning: ''Plot and/or ending details follow.''---- Following the ending of God of War II, God of War III picks up directly after this with a stirring opening narration from Zeus discussing the actions of the rogue Kratos, who is 'commanding' a small army of Titans rescued from the Great War (using the power of the Fates). The Olympians immediately rush to battle; Helios rides on his chariot over Olympus, Hermes speeds down the very peaks of Olympus as Zeus watches on, Hercules receives the order to lead his troops down into the fray, Hades lunges off and engages several Titans in his giant form, and Poseidon (using his amazing aquakinesis) shoots down from Olympus like a missile and performs a death blow through the chest of Epimetheus, and then manifests himself as a massive water being and spawns several water horses called Hippocampi to aid in the battle. With Poseidon as their greatest threat in the battle, having already decimated numerous Titans and soon going after Gaia herself, Kratos engages the God of the Sea and after drawing him into Gaia's grasp manages to knock a weakened Poseidon out of his godly form and onto a separate platform. The two berate each other briefly before Kratos walks up and beats the Lord of the Sea severely, finally gouging out his eyes and snapping his neck as he tosses him off into the ocean. With Poseidon's death, the seas cataclysm and ocean levels rise significantly, causing a flood that appears to engulf the entire world and destroying almost all of mankind save those on top of Olympia. After killing Poseidon, Gaia and Kratos reach Zeus' pavilion, where the king of the gods angrily anticipates Kratos' arrival and, at last, assaults them with a mighty blast of lightning that blows off a massive amount of Gaia's arm and sends the two spiraling down Olympus (Kratos survives presumably by using the Golden Fleece to absorb most of the blast). However, even using the Blade of Olympus to stab into her back, Kratos is unable to hang on as Gaia fights to survive and climb back up to Zeus. She warns him that he was only a pawn and is now expendable now that the Titans have reached Zeus, allowing the embittered Spartan to tumble to his death. Kratos contemplates his life as he lurches through the River Styx and its caverns, and resolves to escape Hades (once again) and destroy Zeus. On his way to Hades' chamber after being sucked of nearly all of his power from the dead souls of Styx, he reunites with a newly-formed Athena who claims to have reached a "new level of existence" and is willing to help Kratos assume his revenge, granting him new weapons to survive the Underworld and the foes that lie ahead, and also defining his next quest of finding and extinguishing the Flame of Olympus in order to truly defeat Zeus. Kratos makes his way through the Underworld meeting a couple of lost souls, encountering statues of the judges of the Underworld, meeting Hephaestus who informs him more and more about the secrets of Olympus and Zeus, and finding mysterious scrawls on the ground that he silently acknowledges to be from various people in his past. Finally entering Hades' palace he finds the coffin-wed body of Persephone that Hades had restored, and engages the Lord of the Underworld himself inside of a dark cavern. Hades matches Kratos until the bloodthirsty Spartan manages to rip off his helmet and steal his weapons, and then ripping out Hades' own soul and absorbs it using the Claws of Hades. Escaping the Underworld through a Hyperion Gate, Kratos renews his journey up along Olympus except that he now faces both the Titans and the Gods - he encouters Helios on his chariot where later he rips the sun god's head off with his bare hands and recives The Head of Helios, he 'amputates' the legs of Hermes acquiring The Boots of Hermes, mercilessly beats his own half-brother Hercules to death with the Nemean Cestus, breaks Hera's neck after she insults Pandora, a small child-like creation of Hephaestus who is the key to extinguishing the Flame of Olympus and revealing its contents, encountering a radiant Aphrodite and her handmaidens in the goddess' chamber, stabbing the Titan Cronos in the head with the Blades of Olympus at Tartarus, impaling Hephaestus after betraying Kratos to Cronos, reciving The Nemesis Whip from Hephaestus just before his death and finally arriving at the Flame's chamber with Pandora, only to be interrupted by Zeus himself. Zeus prevents Pandora from her destiny and engages Kratos, though the latter bests the King of the Gods in a duel and suddenly has a change of heart. Pandora was made to be the Key to Pandora's Box, which is what truly rests within the Flame of Olympus, and would have to sacrifice herself. However, due to inadvertent prodding from Zeus pleads that Kratos not "fail in his decisions this time", Kratos releases Pandora and attacks Zeus in a rage, only to be stunned by the Flame's dissipation. Kratos opens the Box once again, just as he had in the first game, only to discover that it is empty. Zeus mocks him for "another failure", and teleports outside in order to recover, while Kratos' rage grows even stronger. Father and son meet outside once again on a familiar platform, but before either can claim victory, the platform is suddenly shaken by a reawakened Gaia (believed to have been killed during the fight and subject of many Titans anger against Kratos), who violently shakes them and causes them to flee inside of her body. Inside of her chest, Kratos and Zeus duel near her heart; Zeus sucks her heart of her life and rejuvenates as does Kratos, and finally Kratos impales Zeus with the Blade of Olympus against Gaia's heart, seemingly killing both of them. Awakening amidst cracked earth, Kratos finds Zeus' body impaled on a rock, and extracts the blade callously. But Zeus' spirit, consumed by some lasting hatred for his 'infidel' son, attacks and apparently drains Kratos of his willpower, his anger, and instead fills him with fear and a sense of loss whilst throwing him on the verge of death. Before dying, Kratos shares a last-minute mental journey with the guide of Pandora, whose spirit lives on within him, and begins abolishing the various things that torment his soul - the very things that the Astral Zeus is using to kill his mind, similar to what Ares once did. Overcoming these hurtles with a feeling of Hope, Kratos destroys Zeus' astral spirit with a final series of blows, ending the reign of the Olympians once and for all as it seems... Athena arrives to congratulate Kratos on his victory and requests that he turn over the power he claimed from Pandora's Box, but he reveals that there was nothing inside. Athena claims he is lying, because when the evils of the Titanomachy were first sealed into the box, as a safety measure, she placed into the box the "most powerful weapon in the world", hope, to counter act the evils. She demands Kratos return this power he obtained from the box that rightfully belongs to her, for now that the world is cleansed by chaos, she will rebuild it under her rule with the power of hope. Athena realizes, however, that when Kratos first opened the box to kill Ares, as the evils infected and took hold of the gods of Olympus, especially Zeus, the power of hope infused itself into Kratos. Hope had been buried deep beneath the anger, need for vengeance, and guilt, and when Kratos had finally learned to forgive himself for his past, he had released the power. Athena again demands Kratos give her the power, but Kratos refuses, and impales himself on the Blade of Olympus. Which then, a large ray of blue light releases itself into the sky, giving all mankind the power of Hope. Athena becomes furious, claiming that man will not know what to do with Hope. She removes the sword from Kratos, and departs, telling Kratos how disappointed she is by his actions. In the post-credits scene, the spot where Kratos' body was lying is now empty, with a trail of blood going off the edge of the cliff. This scene is reminiscent of his suicide attempt in God of War. David Jaffe's Cut PlotEdit ﻿ In an interview with GameTrailers.com, David Jaffe explained his story to God of War III. The first cutscene featured Oceanus in his water form killing Hermes, similar to Poseidon’s God form. He then said that Kratos would fight Zeus in the opening boss fight and kill him. Then a portal opened from Mt. Olympus and released the Egyptian and Norse Gods. The Titans and the Greek, Egyptian, and Norse Gods start to wage war to determine who would rule the world. Kratos also meets up with his Norse and Egyptian counterparts. They explain to Kratos that they also are trying to exact vengeance on their Gods. They both fuse their powers together to give to Kratos and aid him. Kratos then uses the powers to teleport back and forth through Norway, Egypt, and Greece. Kratos encounters Stheno and takes her head. He then encounters the Sphinx in Egypt and uses Stheno's Head to turn it into stone. Kratos then realizes to permanently kill a God is to get their mortals to stop believing in them. Kratos' plan was already in effect because; the Gods were focused on ruling the world and had their minds off their mortals. Thus, the mortal world was under natural disasters. The mortals stopped believing in the Gods and Kratos continued killing most of them. Kratos killed Thor and took his hammer and also killed Ra to take his magic. Some Gods were killed by the Titans and the Egyptian and Norse Kratos counterparts, until they all were dead. Kratos and The Titans brought peace to the world once again. The Three Wise Men (The Greek, Egyptian, & Norse Kratos) headed to the North Star and the birth of the new religions. The souls of the Underworld were now free and Kratos was reunited with Lysandra and Calliope. The Titans and humans declared the three Kratos Kings of the world and the world would believe in one God..., although it’s unknown which monotheistic religion they followed. Items and abilities Edit WeaponsEdit *Blades of Athena: The blades given to Kratos by Athena at the end of God of War. Kratos uses them for the first portion of the game, however, like in the previous games, they are soon replaced by the Blades of Exile. *Blades of Exile: New blades given by Athena's spectre in the Underworld, using mystical new abilities she "upgrades" the blades, representing now how Kratos has been exiled from his Spartan army, from the Gods of Olympus, and now even from the Titans. *Blade of Olympus: Kratos is shown at the end of God of War II to be holding the powerful blade, and he uses it again in God of War III, but only in Rage mode. Kratos is often seen using the Blade amidst context scenes, and constantly uses it to seemingly one-hit kill bigger opponents and drain their energies. *Claws of Hades: Acquired after killing Hades. They serve to raise the souls of underworld to help Kratos. *Nemean Cestus: Two large, strong gauntlets in the form of a lion's head, that have similar moves to the Gauntlet of Zeus. Contrary to first viewing from the trailers, these are actually wielded by Hercules from the beginning and stolen by Kratos. Hercules had acquired these from the Nemean Lion. *Nemesis Whip: A pair of blades consisting each of three swords, crafted from the Omphalos stone that Kratos retrieved from Tartarus for Hephaestus. They carry an electric charge and can power mechanical devices to some degree. They appear to harbor Hephaestus' own power, and are ironically used to kill their creator. MagicEdit *Divine Reckoning (Blades of Athena): Kratos drives the Blade of Olympus into the ground and causes a vortex of energy to hurt surrounding enemies. *Army of Sparta (Blades of Exile): Kratos is able to summon his exiled Spartan brothers to form a protective phalanx around him. *Soul Summon (Claws of Hades): Kratos summons the spirits of his enemies to attack his enemies. The soul summoned can be chosen in the weapons menu. *Nemean Roar (Nemean Cestus): Kratos slams the ground causing waves of magic to hurt his enemies. *Nemesis Rage (Nemesis Whip): Kratos shocks surrounding enemies with a blast of electric energy. ItemsEdit *Bow of Apollo: A bow that once belonged to the god Apollo . A bow and arrow of fire with movements and attacks similar to Typhon's Bane, which Kratos used in God of War II. *Head of Helios: The head of the God of the Sun. Kratos uses it to blind his enemies, light up dark areas, and to reveal hidden secrets. *Boots of Hermes: The Boots of the Messenger of the Gods. Kratos uses it to attack his enemies at high speed and to reach areas he otherwise could not. RelicsEdit *Golden Fleece: The fleece allows Kratos to reflect any projectiles, beams, and attacks. *Icarus Wings: Wings from the famous Icarus that allows Kratos to glide around distant places. *Poseidon's Trident: This relic has the power to make Kratos breathe underwater indefinitely. *Hades' Soul: Taken from the Lord of the Underworld by the Claws of Hades. This allows Kratos to swim through the River Styx without being harmed by the souls of the dead. *Boreas' Icestorm: Acquired after defeating Skorpius. A gem that contains the icy breath of the North Wind, which Kratos uses to active the Labyrinth and its mechanics. *Rage of Sparta: A new Rage Mode that Kratos uses. It is the equivalent to the Rage of the Gods and the Rage of the Titans from the previous games. Arguably, this rage mode appears to be far less effective and less active than the previous two incarnations, although its possible that this is a result of Kratos lacking now both the power of the Gods (from the first game) and the power of the Titans (from the second game) and this "rage" is derived purely of his own willpower and aggression. Godly PossessionsEdit The Godly Possessions are magical items that once belonged to the gods can now be found hidden in several places in the game. Once found they can be used at any time during your second play through. They can be very helpful, but once you activate a Godly Possession you will not be able to receive any Trophies for the entire play through. #Zeus' Eagle: Infinite Rage of Spartahttp://godofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Hades%27_Helm #Hades' Helm: Max out Health, Magic & Item meters #Helios' Shield: Increases combo time by 3x #Hermes' Coin: Collect 10 times the amount of Red Orbshttp://godofwar.wikia.com/wiki/Hercules%27_Shoulder_Guard #Hercules' Shoulder Guard: Decreases damage taken by 1/3 #Poseidon's Conch Shell: Grants infinite Magic #Aphrodite's Garter: The Blades of Exile are replaced by Athena's Blades #Hephaestus' Ring: Automatically wins all prompts #Daedalus' Schematics: Grants infinite Item #Hera's Chalice: Causes the Health meter to slowly decrease over time, although it will never completely kill you. EnemiesEdit Common EnemiesEdit *Olympus Sentry: Undead army of Gods. The most common type of enemies will achieve extraordinary amount of units on the screen (about 40). *Olympus Legionnaire: Elite branch of undead warriors guarding Olympus. *Cursed Remains: These undead warriors are similar to Olympus Sentry, but encountered only in Tartarus. *Olympus Archer: Undead female archers of Olympus. *Olympus Fiend: Undead warriors infused with electrical magic. *Olympus Guardian: Shielded undead defender of Olympus. *Olympus Sentinel: Elite version of shielded undead warriors. *Lost Souls: Once human, these skinless undead aimlessly walk the Underworld. No longer guided by Charon, nor Hades, they pose a minor threat. They can however transform into stronger creatures upon running into Underworld force fields. *Stone Talos: Stone warriors made by the Gods as protectors. They carry huge hammers and are strong, but are extremely slow. *Bronze Talos: Massive new enemies: brutal, animated statues of bronze. They are similar to the Stone Talos, but even stronger and resistant. A powerful magical energy is seen pulsing inside of them. *Centaur Generals: Unlike the original game, these are the melee fighters who command the legions of Undead. *Cerberus Mongrel: The three-headed beast of Hades. Could be used as mount when wounded. *Hades Cerberus: Fiery, lava-version of Cerberus. *Hades Cerberus Whelp: Young Cerberus with only one head, highly explosive. *Chimera: Beast with the front of a lion, the back of a goat and the tail of a snake. *Cyclops Berserker: Basically the same as before, Kratos will have a capacity to take temporary control over them by force. *Cyclops Enforcer: Heavily armored and armed assault beast. First seen in God of War. *Cyclops Remains: Undead Cyclops that only appear in Tartarus. *Harpies: Winged female beasts. *Harpy Queen: This elite Harpies are used as transportation tool to overcome pits. *Gorgon: The serpent-like green female monster, similar to the ones from the previous games. *Gorgon Serpent: Human-like Gorgons. When killed, Kratos uses her head to turn everyone around into stone. *Skorpius Spawn: Small scorpions that inhabit caverns. Created by giant beast, Skorpius. *Minotaur Brute: Unarmed Minotaur. *Minotaur Elite: Elite, armored Minotaur. *Labrys Minotaur: Strongest of axe-wielding Minotaur warriors. *Satyrs: These agile beasts are fighting using their battle staff, similar to their previous incarnations. *Feral Hound: The attack dog used as part of Olympus army. *Siren Seductress: These deformed women use their songs and magic to defeat Kratos. Similar to Sirens from previous games, but now they can turn invisible. *Wraith of Olympus: Magical undead fiends which protect Olympus. The enemies from the first two God of War games. BossesEdit *Hippocampi: Poseidon's beast, a cross between crab and horse. It is summoned from the sea by the god himself. Kratos has to fight this monstrosity to protect Gaia, only to discover that it, in fact, serves just as a tentacle of gigantic sea form of Poseidon. *Poseidon: The god of seas and horses is the first Olympian to confront Kratos. He manifests out of sea in gigantic, watery construct which uses its tentacles (including the two with Hippocampi) to fight the Titans. *Hades: The god of the Underworld and brother of Zeus. *Hermes: The messenger of Olympus - a mini-boss in his wounded state. *Hercules: The greatest hero of Greece and the champion of Olympus. *Cronos: The mighty titan Cronos himself fights Kratos during one point of the game. *Skorpius: Gigantic scorpion queen guards the labyrinth of Daedalus. *Hades Cerberus Breeder: The most powerful Cerberus - protector of the Chain of Balance and a mini-boss. *Zeus: The king of the Gods and the main enemy of Kratos. The two fight until the end, with Gaia intervening in the middle of the battle. CharactersEdit *Athena † - The now deceased goddess of wisdom, Athena is the deuteragonist of the game. Following the betrayal of the Titans, she aids Kratos in killing Zeus. *Pandora - The self-made and adoptive daughter of Hephaestus and the tritagonist of the game, Pandora is the key to Pandora's Box. Kratos must use her to destroy the Flame of Olympus, the source of Zeus' strength. *Poseidon's Princess † - The slave/lover of Poseidon, killed when Kratos forces her to uphold a lever, causing her to get crushed into pieces. *Perithious † - The mortal lover of Persephone who is now imprisoned for eternity in the realm of Hades. He is killed when Kratos burns him alive. *Daedalus † - The father of Icarus, and has now turned mentally insane in an attempt to bring his son back to him. He is killed when Kratos puts the Labyrinth together. *Helios † - The god of the sun, and an antagonist of the game. He makes countless attempts to kill Kratos and Perses, but ultimately fails. Kratos tears his head of to use the head of Helios for his personal use. His death leads the sun to vanish, causing endless rain and widespread natural disasters. *Hermes † - The messenger of the gods and an antagonist of the game. He taunts Kratos over his speed many times. Eventually, Kratos tears both his legs off, killing Hermes and releasing a plague of infectious diseases across Olympus. *Epimetheus † - The titan god of nature and is one of the few titans ascending towards Olympus. He is killed by Poseidon. *Oceanus - The titan god of the sea. Following his ascension to Olympus, he is repelled by Hades. *Hera † - The queen of the gods, and the wife of Zeus. She is killed in her own garden by Kratos when she insulted Pandora, causing plants worldwide to die. *Aphrodite - The goddess of love, who purposely takes no role in the war Kratos has unleashed. *Hercules - The half-brother of Kratos, who wants to kill him to become the new God of War. *Cronos † - The estranged father of Zeus. He holds the Pandora's Box on his back and is banished to Tartarus after Kratos retrieves the box. Kratos meets him while searching for the Omphalus stone and Cronos attacks him thinking Gaia is killed and also to have revenge for his banishment to Tartarus. Kratos rips of his nails, tears his stomach after he tries to devour him and after getting the stone he impales him with a hook from the chains he is bound with and kills him by stabbing him in the forehead with the Blade of Olympus. *Hades † - The god of the underworld, he confronts Kratos in his palace room in the underworld. After stealing his weapons Kratos pulls out his soul thereby killing him and releasing all dead souls. his soul helps Kratos to swim in River Styx and use the Hypernion Gates to Travel to Olympus. *Poseidon † - The god of the Sea, He is the First Olympian to confront Kratos and the Titans. He is beaten brutally by Kratos and is killed by having his eyes gouged out and neck broken. His death results in an massive flood which engulfs the entire world. *Hephaestus † - The Smith God and God of Volcanoes, He aides Kratos by Telling him secrets and revealing information about the Flames of Olympus and by crafting the Nemesis Whip. He turns hostile when he learns that Kratos is going to kill Pandora by trying to send him to Tartarus and then by Electrocuting Him. He is killed when Kratos impales him on his own Anvil by using the Nemesis Whip *Zeus † - The King of the Olympians and the god of the skies and thunder, Zeus is the main antagonist of the game. He is killed by Kratos at the end of the game by being savagely beaten up, causing the world to fall in utter chaos. *The Three Judges † - They are 3 dead kings who are in the form of statues who judge souls and send the good souls to the fields of Elsyium and the other ones to Hades. They also hold the Chain of Balance in place thereby maintaining equilibrium between Olympus and the Underworld, Kratos kills them by breaking the Onyx Stones on back of their heads and after breaking the chains the statues are broken into pieces after the chain swings and damages them. *Perses † - The titan of destruction and the arch-enemy of Helios. Eventually, he and Kratos both destroy his chariot, but once Kratos ascends towards the labyrinth, Kratos kills him by the Blade of Olympus. *Gaia † - The mother of the titans who helps Kratos deliver his revenge on Zeus. Later on, she betrays Kratos, and as a result has her hand severed by Kratos. She gets killed by Kratos following an ensuing struggle between Zeus and Kratos inside her body, which has her heart destroyed. *Kratos - The main protagonist of the game, Kratos desires revenge on Zeus following his betrayal from the previous game. Following his ascend to Olympus, Kratos is betrayed by the Titans, thus starting his own personal war. SequelEdit When asked about a possible sequel, director Stig Asmussen revealed this, in a March 2010 article on 1UP: "I think there comes a time when to maintain a high level of quality... the bottom line is you can't get burned out, and the source material can't always be the same," said Asmussen. "I want God of War to be one of those games where if there are more God of Wars, we're seeing them spread out over time -- it's not like our studio's making a new God of War every two or three years or something like that, and then the series becomes irrelevant. I like the approach of, 'We just won't make Metroid for 10 years. Why do we have to keep making Metroid?' And then when it comes back, it's fresh and you remember why you loved that game so much. I think it would be good at this point to take that approach with God of War... For a trilogy, it's great. Let's put it to bed for awhile though."When asked if he felt the same way about portable entries or other forms the series could take beyond PlayStation home console releases, he said, "I wouldn't rule anything out at this point; this is just kind of how I feel about it."''As such, it remains highly doubtful if a console sequel will be made. Critical ReceptionEdit ''God of War III has received universal critical acclaim. In the February 16, 2010 edition of the Official PlayStation Magazine UK, the first review score was given as 9/10. Reviewer Nathan Ditum says "the game is inches away from scoring 10/10, it's only the familiarity of the core gameplay that makes it feel less than the very, very best. But it's definitely the biggest, and if this is the finale, then God of War III gives PlayStation's toughest hero the send-off he deserves." Ditum also praised the graphics, stating it was as good if not better than Killzone 2 and Uncharted 2: Among Thieves. IGN (9.3/10) praised the game stating that "God of War III practically redefines what the word 'scale' means with regards to videogames, as it throws you into scenes with Titans that are larger than entire levels in some other games." The only complaint the IGN reviewer had was "that two of the three additional weapons that you'll earn are extremely similar to your blades. They have unique powers and slightly different moves, but by and large, they're more of the same." In terms of visuals, the reviewer said that "God of War III presents some of the most impressive visuals that I've ever seen in a game. Kratos in particular looks phenomenal, and is perhaps the single most impressive-looking character ever in videogames. GameSpot (9.0/10) stated God of War III sticks to the strengths already established by its predecessors, but what it lacks in innovation it more than makes up for in execution. The combat is simple to pick up, but the added moves and weapons give it more depth than before, and the spectacular visuals make fights even more brutal. But God of War III is so much more than its satisfying combat. The imaginative visual design and moody classical score balance your quest for vengeance with artistic pleasures, and the well-crafted puzzles further tap into your cerebral vein. God of War III is a brilliantly paced, meticulously detailed adventure that thrills and satisfies until the very end. AwardsEdit God of War III was awarded "Most Anticipated Game of 2010" at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards and GameTrailers awarded God of War III with the "GameTrailers Diamond Award" for exceeding ten million views. At the 2010 Spike Video Game Awards, God of War III was awarded "Best PS3 Game" and "Best Graphics", with the character Kratos winning the "Biggest Badass" award. The game was also nominated for "Game of the Year", "Best Action Adventure Game", "Best Original Score" and "Character of the Year". PS3 Attitude awarded God of War III Game of the Year. Other individual awards include Best Action/Adventure game (Game Trailers), Best Action game (GameSpy), Best PS3 game (Game Revolution) and Best PS3 Exclusive (Shacknews). TriviaEdit *A playable demo was included on the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_9 District 9] Blu-Ray disc, as well as being made available through PSN. It featured the City of Olympia, with a condensed storyline, and some missing features. *Nascar race cars promoted God of War III by having cars display Kratos' image. *God of War III features no true CGI sequences, as stated by SCEA animator Bruno Velazquez: "Everything you see is 100% in-game. All camera features, including motion blur, run real-time in the cinematics and in-game." SOURCES: God of War Wiki